


Vigil's Keep

by Katalyna_Rose



Series: Vhenan AU [6]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: AU, F/M, For my world state this is technically an AU, Kahlia never made it to Vigil's Keep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 11:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9179674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katalyna_Rose/pseuds/Katalyna_Rose
Summary: Politics make Kahlia's head spin.





	

_What’s so vigilant about Vigil’s Keep anyway?_ Oghren pondered drunkenly. _Seems like it’s not doing a very good job, what with darkspawn crawling out of the basement and all._

Suddenly, Kahlia plopped into the seat across from him and snagged his tankard.

“Hey!” he yelled, reaching for it. She batted him away and drank the contents. That alone was enough to make him pause. Kahlia hardly ever drank, and when she did it was sickeningly sweet, frilly crap that was only vaguely alcoholic.

She slammed the empty tankard down in the table and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Oghren was very surprised, to say the least. That tankard had been nearly full of the strongest drink he could find.

“You know, you’re gonna regret that in about half an hour or so,” he told her. “And you’re gonna regret it in the morning, too.”

“I can live with that,” she told him, scowling. It was very unlike the quiet, sweet Warden he knew.

“What’s going on that made you steal my drink?” he asked her, genuinely concerned. Most people, like that human who failed her Joining, thought he cared about nothing but drinking and tits. That was mostly true, but he also cared about Felsi and Kahlia. And his son, too, even though he was mostly a failure on that front.

She hesitated, maybe not trusting him with the information.

“Look, you can tell me now while you can still control what comes out of your mouth, or you can blurt it all later when the drink hits,” he told her. “Either way, you’re still gonna say it.”

“Fair point,” she said, and sighed heavily. “I’ve been here less than a week, doing everything I can to clean this place up, and already there’s a conspiracy to have me killed.” She rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. She had no idea what a headache was, but she’d find out in the morning. “Half the nobles were as corrupt as Howe, and the other half are too terrified to point the finger at the conspirators.”

“You could blackmail them,” Oghren told her. “I’m sure you could dig something up about their involvement with Arl Howe that would make them leave you be.”

“But that’s what Howe would have done,” she said. Her words were already starting to slur. She wouldn’t be conscious much longer. “I’m better than him. I need to prove to these people that I’m better than him, that I’ll treat them fairly.”

“Then what are we gonna do?” he asked her. She looked at him sharply, probably surprised that he’d referred to the problem as theirs, rather than hers. She was his commander and his friend, and he wouldn’t leave her to deal with this mess alone.

“There’s someone in Amaranthine who calls himself the Dark Wolf,” she said. “Naturally, he stole my underworld title.” Oghren guffawed, slapping the table.

“But you right earned that title in Denerim!” he protested. Kahlia shrugged.

“We’ll see if he’s worthy of the stolen title soon enough,” she said. “If he can get me the information I need on these conspirators, I’ll let him keep the title. If he can’t, I’ll drag his ass all across the underworld and beat him with experience. Then I’ll throw him in prison for the crimes I committed to become known as the Dark Wolf.”

Oghren laughed long and hard at that. He didn’t doubt that she would, not at all. It was just like his Kahlia, who was sleeping with the man who’d once been hired to kill her, to do something that underhanded and clever. If she couldn’t use him, she’d make damn sure he remembered her name.

By the time he’d calmed down, Kahlia was listing to the left and her eyes were mostly unfocused. Damn lightweight.

“Hey, you better go to bed,” he told her. “I’m too damn short to be carrying your ass up all those stairs to your room.”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly, but it was only barely intelligible. Oghren shrugged. If she passed out, he’d go get that mage and the surly Howe to take her to her room.

“Heard from your lady love recently?” Oghren asked.

“Zevran is more man that you, dwarf,” she said, giggling.

“And he has better hair than you do,” Oghren replied. She giggled.

“I got a letter from him yeserdee. Yesterday,” she said, listing the other way. Wouldn’t be long now.

“And in it, he described in great detail all the horrible ways he’s been killing the Crows. Then, in the same paragraph, he described all the dirty, dirty things he’s gonna do to you when he sees you next,” Oghren predicted. Kahlia giggled.

“Nah,” she said, drawing out the word far longer than was necessary. “But he did mention a few dirty things.”

“I bet they involved rope,” Oghren teased. She laughed, and hiccupped in the middle.

“Not this time,” she told him unsteadily, leaning forward. Any second now. “It was actually…. very sweet…” And she fell face first onto the table, out cold.

“And that’s why you don’t steal my drinks,” Oghren told the unconscious elf, satisfied. Then he got up to find the mage to take care of her.


End file.
